iPhone NDA: Doing more harm than good

iPhone development is still hampered by a nondisclosure agreement between Apple and developers.

The iPhone software development kit (SDK) is the only sanctioned way to develop applications for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. The SDK includes APIs, documentation, and sample code; so far, Apple is treating all of it as confidential information. To download and use the SDK, developers must accept a nondisclosure agreement that prohibits discussion of any of this "confidential information." Since the platform targeted by the SDK—the iPhone OS 2.0—was released July 11, the NDA has become a source of frustration for the growing development community. Here's why.

Less productive coding

The NDA made a degree of sense during the SDK's beta period, since the API and documentation were in flux and nondisclosure could keep inaccurate information from being published. One of Ars' own staff members noted, however, that the potential for bugs and mismatches between documentation and the actual API means that more developers are facing the same stumbling blocks during the beta period. Those developers are used to solving such problems by taking advantage of online forums, blogs, IRC channels, and mailing lists to get help with problems; the NDA prevents any of that.

The restrictions have become even more frustrating now that the beta period is over. "The big benefit is that developers always work more efficiently and productively when they are able to communicate freely with each other," said Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software. "The Mac community has a lot of resources for sharing advice about the Mac development SDK, and we'd like to start establishing the same kinds of resources for the iPhone SDK."

If developers weren't forced to spend time working through coding problems on their own, they could spend more time making better applications. "I don't really want to spend my time toiling over a ton of issues that could easily be answered via a mailing list or blog post," Justin Williams of Second Gear told Ars. "I know there are a few developers that have written excellent pieces of code or blog posts that they'd love to share, but the NDA prevents it. To me, that's a no-win for everyone."

Developers new to the Apple fold would benefit even more from the "free flow of ideas, help lists, and web sites where newcomers to the platform can get help getting around common pitfalls," said Ben Gottlieb of Stand Alone.

No books on shelves

But the problems extend beyond the developer community. Several authors have programming books in the works based on the iPhone SDK. Until the NDA is lifted, authors and publishers are both left in an indefinite holding pattern.

Erica Sadun is one such author, and her iPhone programming book was scheduled to be published by Addison-Wesley this month. "[My publisher has] advance orders; they have commitments. They are trying to deal with Apple and, as far as they knew, the NDA was supposed to be lifted July 11. That's what the people inside Apple believed," she said. She admitted that Apple has to do what's in its best interest, "but I do find [the NDA] a troublesome agreement. It made sense during the beta period, but now it just doesn't."

Stability problems

Users are also affected when developers are unable to get help with vexing problems. Many of the first applications for iPhone had issues with stability and crashing. Since then, feedback from users has helped developers squash the bugs, and updates have begun to trickle out. But users end up being beta testers for developers, and each developer is stuck solving issues on her own without help from the network of peers that Mac OS X developers enjoy.

Even Apple doesn't escape unscathed. Developers are stuck asking for help from Apple engineers, who are taxed by the enormous influx of new developers. "Corporations are best served to have their technical support assisted by willing and knowledgeable volunteers," said Sadun. "There is a cost associated with enforcing the NDA, in that Apple is forced to do all the support themselves."

Apple's reputation could be adversely affected as well. Unfortunately for student Jeffrey Long, his experience learning to develop for the iPhone "has been like no other experience I've had with computers," he wrote. "It’s been a much, much lonelier one." Certainly, this is not the reputation Apple wants among developers for its hot new mobile platform.

Is it enforceable?

Some have questioned the enforceability of the NDA. I asked a Chicago-area attorney who specializes in business contracts (he asked not to be named) to review the NDA. In his opinion, there's nothing there that makes it blatantly unenforceable.

"A confidentiality/nondisclose agreement is going to be enforced based on its reasonableness. You could challenge the reasonableness of the exclusive right to speak about a wildly publicized consumer product, but you are going to be dealing with some pretty savvy attorneys," he said. "If you agreed to the contract, you agreed to its terms."

None of the developers I spoke with are too keen to test the "reasonableness" of the NDA. If all iPhone developers decided to violate the NDA en masse, the cat would be out of the bag; Apple is unlikely to respond by shutting down the wildly successful App Store or the developer program.

"I'm not sure whether it would force a clarification from Apple or whether it would just go quietly," said Jalkut. But "Apple might pick out the ringleaders and make an example out of them," noted Simmons.

"They could definitely take action against a select few to make a statement," said Williams. "I'm not one to try and test the waters. I'll let the WordPress guys do it," he said, referring to WordPress's release of the full source code for their blog-posting app. Though the source includes sample code provided by Apple, which is covered by the NDA, the move has so far generated no response from Cupertino's lawyerly horde.

Making do

In the meantime, though, developers continue to vent via Twitter, using certain colorful idioms to describe the NDA. Williams created a website that aggregates the complaints as a joke, but it got over 15,000 unique hits in the first day the site was live.

"I didn't really think it'd spread outside of the little Twitter following, but I think the NDA issue is starting to spread a bit further," he said. In addition, an online petition has been created to ask Apple to "please lift the NDA," garnering over 150 signatures at the time of this writing.

As Apple deals with stock shortages, continued iPhone 3G rollouts, MobileMe service issues, and App Store delays (Sadun has heard that Apple is in the process of setting up 51,000 vendors to operate through iTunes), Apple has a lot on its plate.

"I'm not sure if Apple has a specific reason for not lifting it, or if they're just being extra cautious with their new platform, or if it's just bureaucratic inertia," said Gottlieb. Keeping the NDA in place may generate some short-term damage to Apple's reputation, but Williams thinks that "once the NDA is lifted—assuming they do—we'll all forget about how dumb this whole thing was."

Jaikut added, "The important thing is that Apple's developers also have a lot of really positive things to say about Apple. I think it's comparable to the mini-fiascos regarding the iPhone launch and MobileMe; are customers going to hold a long-term resentment against Apple because of some snags along the way? Not when the end product is as great as it is."